XVIII CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 169 



age. The age at which he repeats it depends in 

 part upon the occurrence of an opportunity ; it 

 commonly falls between his eighth and fifteenth year. 

 If in a house there is a number of big lads who have 

 not performed this rite, owing to no heads having 

 been taken for some years, a head may be borrowed 

 for the purpose from a friendly household ; and in 

 this case the borrowed head is brought into the 

 house with all the pomp and ceremony of successful 

 war. 



As the returning war - party approaches the 

 village, the boys who are to take part in the rite are 

 marshalled before the house by a master of the 

 ceremonies. He kills a fowl and thrusts a sharpened 

 stake right through it, so that the point projects 

 from its beak, and slashes the carcase into three 

 pieces, one for the adults of the house, one for 

 the boys, and one for the infants. He then takes a 

 short bamboo knife, and a bunch of isang leaves, and, 

 after making a short address to the boys, ties a band 

 of isang round the wrist of each of them, and, dilut- 

 ing the blood of the fowl with water, smears some 

 of the mixture on each boy's wrist-band. He puts 

 a handful of rice on a burning log and gives a grain 

 of it to each of the boys to eat. 



Some old man of the house goes down to the 

 river to meet the returning war-party and brings up 

 the head (or one of the heads) and holds it out, 

 while the master of ceremonies, holding the portion 

 of the fowl's carcase assigned to the boys, leads up 

 each boy in turn to strike at the head with a sword. 

 The boys then go down to the river ; and, 

 while they bathe, a bunch of isang with which the 

 head has been decorated is waved over them. 

 During the feasting which follows the boys may eat 

 only twice a day. No youth may join a war-party 

 until he has taken part in this rite. The boys are 

 with few or no exceptions keen to go out to war and 



